Sounis' Top Favorite YA Picks

[1221bookworm.livejournal.com]

And the results are in!! :-) 

 First off, a BIG thank you to everyone who participated!! :-)  And a second thank you for following the rules so closely, you made my life soo much easier, and I appreciate it!! :-)   

I hope everyone had fun!! :-)

So first, the boring stuff (Yes, now I am Really trying to torture you guys by making you wait for the announcement of the winner :-)

We had 214 recommendations from 43 Sounisians that resulted in 119 unique titles/series, encompassing over 300 individual books.  The top 5 with the most votes are as follows:

Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner topped the list with 29 votes!!

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones came in a distant second with 9 votes.

Chrestomanci Chronicles by Diana Wynne Jones rounded out the top three with 7 votes.

Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith finished with 6 votes, and

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein closes our top five list with exactly 5 votes. 

            A top ten list would include many titles that received 3-4 votes (and would encompass more than 
                                   just 10 entries :-)

And now, since we’re having so much fun with lists, the top 5 authors are:

Megan Whalen Turner had a total of 29 author votes with just 1 title!!

Diana Wynne Jones had 19 votes in 5 titles/series, including one for her entire canon.

Elizabeth Wein had 9 votes with 2 titles/series.

Melina Marchetta had 7 votes with 4 titles/series. 

AND, there is a four way tie for the fifth place title, so they are, in no particular order:

            Sherwood Smith, with 6 votes from 1 title.

            Patricia Wrede with 6 votes in 3 titles/series

            Robin McKinley with 6 votes in 3 titles/series, AND

            Tamora Pierce with 6 votes, two of which recommend her entire works, and four other titles/series
                         specifically.  

A couple shockers that were lower than I expected:

Harry Potter received only 4 votes, though I noticed that he may have been higher if we had the option of a sixth choice. 

The Chronicles of Narnia received just one vote.

Twilight was not recommended at all (not that I have a problem with that …)

Llyod Alexander did not get more than 2 votes, despite his many novels.

The Hunger Games received just 2 votes, despite its new found fame.

If anyone would like to peruse the full list, they can find it posted on my journal. 


Thanks again to everyone who participated!! :-)
~Bookworm

Comments

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

Yay! Two of my favorites made the top five! But two of the top fivers I haven't even read....I must rectify this situation.

Thanks for doing this, Bookworm, I know you worked hard!

[manderelee.livejournal.com]

Woooow!! Bookworm, awesome job. Love the stats.

This makes me want to pick up an Elizabeth Wein book now. She made both top author and top books.

Lol, I'm glad Twilight didn't even get a single vote. XD I'm surprised with Harry Potter too, though.

[frosted-feather.livejournal.com]

I excluded The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings from my criteria because 1) they seem to be for general audiences and not specifically YA, and 2) in my mind they'll always win every contest, they're The Cannon to which I compare most 20th century fiction. It didn't seem quite fair to include them. :) I had to think harder to come up with my list of five.

I also haven't read the other four winners, so I will have to check them out.

[lizzyazula.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of people feel (or at least I do) that Harry Potter sort of "transcends" all other books--there's no point in naming it, because we all know that everyone loves it and that it's so great. So when people ask for your favorite book, you might be more inclined to skip saying Harry Potter, because it's so obvious. It's sort of like Pride and Prejudice and Jane Austen. When people ask me what my favorite Austen is, I immediately opt out P&P without thinking, because it's already so well known and a favorite of everyone's.

Also, I think people just wanted to give lots of love to underrate authors =)

[ladyadeone.livejournal.com]

Shoot! Missed the voting. : P
Quite interesting results.

[(Anonymous)]

Twilight was not recommended at all... LOL! Well...

And yay! I need to go get some of these titles now! Great job Bookworm!!

Elle

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

Wow, I haven't read quite a few of these! I must find Code Name Verity and Crown Duel!

I forgot to vote (tbh I kept putting it off because it was too hard! lol) but I would have cast a second vote for Huckleberry Finn and a third for His Dark Materials. And a fifth for Harry Potter. Although, like others have said, HP hardly needs to be stated.

And QT, of course.

It's the fifth that's hard. I can come up with a top ten list, but where does the cut off go? Agggh!

[shelver506.livejournal.com]

Mmm, MWT, Wein, Pierce, and McKinley all mentioned in the same place. I truly love this site.

[chachic.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

YAY! Love the results, I've read all of the books in the top 5 list although I haven't finished reading all of the Chrestomanci books. It makes me happy that EWein is included in that list. And Melina Marchetta is included in the list of top authors. ♥

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

Yay I have read all of the top 5! Also I've read most/all books from all of the top 5 authors.... except Melina Marchetta. I tried Jellicoe Road and got bored.... *hides*. Is there another of hers that I might find more interesting?

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you so much for putting all this together. I haven't seen the winner of the NPR Poll yet, but somehow I doubt their top five are going to be my favorite authors the way they are here.

~mwt